Paolo Maldini Tribute

[ACMILAN1983]

I was watching UEFA CL classics today on Eurosport which showed Bayern vs Milan in 2002 (we won 2-1 thanks to Pippo).

Anyway, one great comment I heard the commentator say "There are many players out there who are considered great strikers or great creative players, but when it comes to cool, Maldini is surely the coolest player ever" (cool in the sense of , not as in he always keeps a cool head, although he does )

Of course, this comment was interleaved in between a number of comments about how amazing Maldini as a player is

[Redman]

I hope he gets to win another CL this year! Anyway, I have the highest respect for Maldini, I liked him as a player ever since I was little! I hope to write a longer post on this thread whenever I get the chance!

Originally Posted by mly

I would be a total lier if I said that Maldini is not the reason why I'm here right now, many other players I have seen coming and going, but Paolo is constant, he has always been there.
When he decides to call it quits(supposly next year) I'll try my best to get to Milan to have the chance to watch my favorite player of all time playing in San Siro, live.
Giovanni for this topic, and also to have the chance to watch this great(for many the best ever, and for me too , since I didn't had the chance to see much of Il Capitano Baresi) defender's whole career.

Totally agree. I also will also try & be there with my 12 year old son. Coming from Scotland there a few times in your life you get the chance to witness true quality on a football field first hand.

Forza Milan, Rangers

[arpanmilan]

The Milan Model

Model! Yes that's the word to describe this true-blooded Italian legend. It is difficult to imagine a milan side without this satlward defender. In a carrer spaning 20 years and counting...(his Serie A debut was way back in Jan1985,long before some of us were even born!),ever since his debut he has consistently given 110% in every single match he has been involved in. In this carrer span Maldini has won virtually every club honor thr is possible. Paolo Maldini has been an exemplary professional troughout his carrer.
Maldini is one of the greatest defenders the world has ever seen. Maldini is always defensively alert,astutely composed in possesion, and phenomenally clean and precise in the tackle. It is an extremely difficult task in itself to even find a professional fault in this man; I would not even try to argue if someone said he has no weakness in his game. The fact is proven that he was voted as the World Soccer's World Player of the year in 1994, the first defender to win the prestigious award. In a soccer community whr defence is the key, Maldini revolutiones the game, attacking whenever possible. The key to play good football is abt attitude and not as much the technical aspect. He is a man of few words and prefers to talk through his deeds on and off the pitch.
Milan and Italy left-back Paolo Maldni is almost too good to be true. Successful,glamorous,good looking and with estimated annual earnings in excess of 1.5 million pounds, he is not only one of Italian soccer's undisputed world class talents but alo highly respected and liked within the Italian soccer community.
Class is no water, as Italian's say, and Paolo Maldini has lots of it.

FORZA MALDINI !!!
FORZA MILAN !!!

Maldini has always been my favourite player, and he's the reason I became a Milanfan. He's a very special player (how many topplayers play in the same club tehir whole career?), and he'll always have a special place in my, and many other Milanfans', heart . Do anyone know he's adress or how I could write him a letter or something? I'm kinda desperat to get it...!

[Helena]

Try to find the adress to Milanello by going to www.acmilan.com

Thanks! I'll try to find it there

[Joanna]

The only good thing about last night is that Maldini broke another record - the fastest goal in the CL finals history.....lol....I wonder if he knows that....
By the way....he is looking more and more like his father, don't yoy think ?

[KaKa|22]

He is my altime favourite player.

I was crying when he went past the Trophy while he was wearing the silver medal..

Maradonna: "Italy should be proud of Maldini"

[Debs]

This is an excellent tribute article a friend sent me....



http://news.ft.com/cms/s/6fd9b422-c9...00e2511c8.html

Maldini finds secret of eternal youth
By Simon Kuper
Published: May 20 2005 19:42 | Last updated: May 20 2005 19:42

On a snowy day in 1985, a 16-year-old made his debut for AC Milan.


"Where do you want to play?" Nils Liedholm, then Milan's coach, asked him. Amazed at being consulted, the kid said he preferred the right. He was then still right-footed. He came on, and has hardly missed a game since.

In the Champions League final against Liverpool on Wednesday, a month before his 37th birthday, Paolo Maldini will probably win his fifth European Cup with Milan.

Maldini is brilliant, handsome and nice. Nobody dislikes him. Even Tommaso Pellizzari, a fan of Inter Milan who wrote a book critical of AC Milan called No Milan, admits: "In 20 years of football, he never did something you remember as bad or ugly."

Since many of us want to achieve eternal perfection, the question is how Maldini does it.

It began with his father. Cesare Maldini had captained Milan himself, and his son appears to have constructed his life around seeking the old man's approval.

"From the moment I first remember seeing a picture of him holding the European Cup," says Maldini junior, "I wanted to copy his success." Cesare had grinta - grit - and so Paolo, who had more natural gifts than his father, developed grinta.

When Milan moved him to left-back in his teens, Maldini achieved through grinta and practice something almost unfeasible for anyone older than 12: he made his left foot as good as his right. "He still surprises me every day with his quest to always improve and to look inside as well," says his father.

In the Champions League semi-final against PSV Eindhoven this month, Maldini threw his head in front of a Dutch striker winding up for a shot. He was kicked in the face and stretchered off. Within a minute or two, he had resumed work.

To maintain this level of grinta, you have to believe in the institution for which you work. Hardly any footballers love their clubs, yet Maldini actually seems to, even though he supported Juventus of Turin as a boy. No doubt this love is mixed up with love of father: at 73, Cesare still scouts for Milan.

Paolo turned down better offers from English clubs, and once, when Milan pleaded financial trouble, accepted a pay cut of 30 per cent. He often speaks about the meaning of playing in his city of birth.

Maldini has subordinated ego to club. This makes him a walking reproach to footballers who seek status through anything but performance. Wayne Rooney, who often seeks macho confrontation, got a pat on the head from Maldini. Robbie Savage, a Welsh footballer who before a Wales-Italy match chucked away a Maldini shirt on television, was not granted a response at all.

Yet none of this quite covers him. There is something supernatural about his body, as if he were a Greek god poorly disguised as a human. To remain a great footballer at the age of 36 - an almost unprecedented feat - you must always have taken perfect care of yourself.

Milan's training ground, Milanello, offers glimmers of an explanation.

This idyll on a hill above Lake Como comes alive a few minutes before 10 each morning, when a parade of people-carriers containing footballers pushes past the armed guards. Maldini has made this commute for 20 years. Between training sessions, he sleeps in his Milanello bedroom. He says: "It's almost as though all your worries stop at the gates. This is the ideal manner to get the best out of you."

It would appear so, for Maldini is not alone at Milan. The back-four likely to face Liverpool has an average age of 33, with 39-year-old Billy Costacurta in reserve.

This is because "Milan Lab", the club's medical team, has found the secret of eternal youth. The medical staff are always testing players' muscles, brains, hearts, breathing, psyche etc., and then analysing the data with computers.

Whereas other teams still run laps together, each player at Milan follows his own customised regime. It works, particularly if you are already a Greek god. Adriano Galliani, Milan's vice-president, reports: "Paolo's biological age is much lower than his actual age. The tests we have done now are better than three or four years ago."

As they say, it's partly a matter of how old you feel. Maldini believes that stress consumes energy. He tries to avoid it by not thinking about football outside work hours. He never reads the Gazzetta dello Sport, Italian soccer's daily pink bible, never appears on television or in gossip rags, never talks about soccer at home, and seldom even with his dad.

Should he ever retire, Milan Lab will presumably clone him.

[k7r]

Originally Posted by Giovanni

MALDINI: best italian player ever , most successful italian player and one of the most in History, best italian defender ever with Baresi, in the top three defenders' shortlist in the history (with baresi and beckembauer)
Paolo is the most consistent player ever to grace a football picth, and before his 30 people was surprised when he even managed to mistake a pass;

the most two footed player i have ever seen (even more than van basten who was able to lob keepers with his less sensitive foot): it is proved by the fact he kicks penalties with left or right without any difference

who saw him playing before his 30 can tell how class he was, at 18 y o he went to bernabeu against one of the best teams of the 80 (real madrid) and outclassed a world class player like Michel

sportmanship: got at worst 3 red cards in 20 years

Consistency: Through his career he's been world class for almost 20 years at the highest levels .Till 30 y o he almost raised the perfection ..i remember him doing one howler every countless matches.

Class: surely the most complete defender of the hystory, counting athletical skills, pace (before 30 i remember that even Ronaldo or Weah couldn't outpace him , and that was the most dangerous Ronaldo ever seen), technique, defending/attacking (before being dropped as a central defender), position, headers..

The perfect player, if you add an out of common loyalty to his club..

Records: he's won everything at club stage, his only sad point is NT, with he still reached 1 WC final, 1 WC semifinal, and 1 Euro cup final.

At the end of the season will be the player in Italy with the highest number of matchesin Serie A (he's already the player with the highest number of matches for Italy), getting over Zoff, who played over 40 as a goalie.

Already a legend before his 30s, one day i will be proud to have witnessed his entire career, a true gentleman, Milan's heart and the reason why many of us are here now

GRAZIE PAOLO

THAT WAS BEE-YOO-TIFUL GIO....SUCH A SUPERB THREAD ON PAOLO!READING ALL THESE QUOTES ON MALDINI MAKES ALL THE REST MERE 2ND CLASS.PAILO U R THE BEST AND ALWAYS WILL BE.

[arpanmilan]

i dont know much abt milan before 2000. Whether thr were any transfer rumours relating to maldini before?

Growing up in Toronto, Canada I was lucky enough to see the great Juventus team of the early 1980's play a few friendly games here. This was my first exposure to soccer so needless to say, Juventus was my team. But so great was the impression left on me when I first saw Paolo play that I quickly realized what team I was destined to fall in love with and support for the rest of my life.

For the past 20 years there is only one player truly worthy of the admiration of millions of soccer fans throughout the world and it is the great Paolo Maldini.

I am honored to have been to USA 94, France 98, Japan/Korea 2002 (Paolo's last game with the National Team) Euro 2000 and the Champions League Final in Manchester to see him play. I was present to experience the best and worst moments of his career and will cherish all the memories forever.

[Hesham]

No words would give this legend his deserved credit . The most consistent player ever at the highest levels since his started in 1984 till now . The best ever left-back last century and one of the best ever central defenders . At 37 he is still indispensable to Milan and if he reversed his decision of international retirement he would have been still defending the Italian national team colours . A true living legend and will always be .

[Kui]

I also would like to add that he has been one of the reasons and causes of our success. WHy???? Because we use his character and professionalism as a standard which all Milan players must try to measure up to. It is a hard feat to match! Yet we must use the highest standards of football character in order for this club to continue to enjoy the harmony and maturity of professional football, as well as likely success. If we stoop to the "soap opera" antics of Real Madrid and Inter merda's, it is a gurantee formula for failure. There is no better of an example of high standards today in Club football character than Paolo Maldini.
Even when the sad day comes where he hangs his boots up, we should always maintain such standards in perpetuity to follow those past such as Baresi and Maldini.